27-4 COMPOST PRIVY SAUNA, pesto pur ae auton ‘Atgae harvest invotves algae collection, sun-drying and _admix- ture into animal (or human} food. Tis use for human consumption is a consideration when ane remembers that natives of the Republic of Chad have used algae as a staple (ood since prehistoric times, Tike- wise, Cortex observed in 182L that, near what is presently Mexico City, natives “. . . sell some small cakes made from a sort of ooze which they get out of the great lake, which curdles, and from this they make a bread having a flavor something like cheese.” The bhue-gteen algae that Cortez referred to has been identified as SPIRULINA — the very same variety of algae that Chad nalives to this day collect from oases and form into cakes. Bacteria and yeasts, discussed above, form the major source of single-cell protein, Fungi are included in’ the general single-cell food grouping, but they will not be covered in this book. Fungi have no significant food value. At best, mushrooms are a pleasantly-flavored addition to the dict, Following the algae harvest, purified effluent cun then be drained inte a fish pund. Scum from the digester should also he drained into the pond. Fish thrive on the nutrient-rieh effluent which finally ends up at the bottom of the pond in the form of stabilized sludge. Pond areas during alternate years are planted to a silage erup, as discussed in a previous chapter. Gumun excreta — [almost said human “wastes”, but we need to get away from the concept of exereta as waste now that we have tech- niques for processing excreta in a sanitary and scientific manner — mest definitely, human EXCRETA should be included in a homestead program of fuel-fucd-and-fertilizer production, The first major obstacle to the utilization of human exereta is the receptacle — the common, stoolvariety water closet. If an author is permitted just one chronie complaint or one indulgence-per-book mine jered against the Dush toilet, & five-gallon wash-down of 15 subsequent utilization of the excreta material since waler-bora sewage is destined, irretrievably, far the septic tank. Furthermore, the seat-height evacuation posture is one of the worst of our untuman, “civilized” habits. My personal peeve against faulty bathroom design-use goes back a dozen years when I first started developing an improved compost- privy design. A number of schemes Were tried but abandoned for one or another reason, The most recently developed facility has worked exceedingly well. Its satient features are enumerated below under the headings of DESIGN — MATERIALS — STRUCTURE — FUNCTION, DESIGN: The fundamental design feature of my compesteprivy Is its adaptibillty into the larger homestead complex. It is designed to nesile between the greenhouse and the cocking-utility and sleeping areas, yet, at the same time, it retains an outside, lower-level atcess for loading and emptying the compost ehamber. Ideally, arganic-matier ingress and finished-compost egress should he directly accessible to the anae- robie digester or to the garden or greenhouse in the case where finished ‘compost Is to be directly used on crops. The drawing below illustrates the latter arrangement and includes an upper-level sauna and a roof level sun deck, Where annther arrangement is preferredya single-level privy can inchide the functions of washing, bathing and excavation. FUNCTION: Aerobie decomposition takes place in x divided, cast concrete chamber. Twice a year a simple, metal baffle plate is turned to divert material from one chamber ta another, and twice a year alternate chambers are cleaned out in preparation for a new hatch of compost. Of primary importance to the proper function of the privy is the moisture content af the compust. Where there is 00 litele mois- ture, aerobic organisms have difficulty sceuring a soluble food supply, moistuce being their main, food-transport medium. Where there is too much moisture air spaces are reduced, preventing oxygen cireulation through the mass. As a genetal rule privy moisture-content should be maintained at 50%, This 80% privy moisture content will include faeces, which is 70% moistuce, urine, which is 90% mnisture, garbage and vegetable trimmings, which are 20% moisture, and an expectable (out, nevertheless, greatly redueed) waier-flush on the order of from ane-to-several quarts, The compost-privy becomes a practical cunsideratiun when com- pared with the standard, five-gallon-flusk water closet which uses about fourand-one-half gallons nf water ton much, A recent booklet, STOP THE FIVE-GALLON F1.USH}, $1.75, just released by McGill Univer sity's School of Architecture, Montreal, Canada, lists a number of totlet manufacturers throughout the world who make throne and squat toilets requiring a mere one-quart flush. Since the publication of MteGill’s Booklet, 2 California plastics engineer has begun pradueing gel-finished fiberglass squat plates, illustrated below. All privy washing and bathing water should fe diverted from the eomposting chamber and drained into a separate Jeach field. The privy’s central, two-inch, galvanized pipe handles the drain water ade- quately, and, al the same time, doubles as a fixture and a chamber ven. STRUCTURE: The central pipe thal provides water drainage and Fixiure and compost chamber ventilation ¢v the outside also provides aligoment ducing the structure’s erection and, when finished, it pro- vides structural support and bracing for walls, floor and roof. Concrete ig poured by casting alternate, onc-foot high layers in “climbing” ply- wood forms. As many as fourone-foot castings can be made in one day. Walls are east verllcally ‘in the manner of children s* hand-over- hand game. Light-welght plywood forms make it possihle for ane person to form the walls while working inside the structure without the need for external scaffolting. This is an espeeially important feature where a (wo- or three-story structure is involved, as in the ease of the silo construction mentivned in the previaus chapter. The same form and the same building system is used for both structures. MATERIALS: Conerete was chosen as the baste wall material, Per- tmanence makes it an essential choice for any underground (earth- covered) sections, tor the compost chamber section and, certainly, far the feed-silo walls. When a gravity-ted ‘ater supply is desirable, concrete walls can be extended above the cast concrete privy roof to form a second-story, with another cast concrete roof over that to pro- vide a place for a water storage, Inside, sauna-bathing facilities are properly faced with a moistute-absorbing material, such as redwood or cedar. One finds, currently, very few Sanitation Department codes approv- ing of the compost-privy concept. Fortunately, the majority of home- steaders locate outside buildi in where approval is not mandatory. Some people Inside eodeenforeed districts have fought septie-tank-oriented City Hall — and won. They have done legal battle with the bureaucracies, armed with autharitative literature fram The World Health Organization which, quite frankly, states that pathogenic bacterfa and other parasites thrive in the anaerobie putrefaction of the septic tank environment for at least six months! In aerobie privy decomposition high temperatures destroy pathogens Ina few hours! Over the deeades a mumber of people in the ficlds of medicine and agriculture have devoted their lives to establishing more cational sani- tation. F. H. King followed the writings of Br. Poore whose book, ESSAYS ON RURAL HYGIENE, was published in London in 1894. Poore raised vegetables an onc-and-one-half acres at land kept fertile hy the use of directly-applied but buried excrement from oue hundred persons for a period of twenty-two years. It took four years to com pletely cover the garden, Dr. Poore writes, after which time, “. . , fer- tility and beauty of the garden have been increased enormously . . No other crops, except cabbage, seem to flourish in the fresh material, but cabbage may be followed by potatoes, these by celery <planted between the rows), these by peas or beans and, after this, by parsnips or carrots without any fresh manoring and with a most abundant yield, Another Poore quote makes a fitting elose to this chapter: “That in a country or semirurat district, where it is pussibte to give a house a decent curtilage or small garden, it is easy for a householder to make the sanitation of his dwelling quite independent of the local authority. In faet, the householder is able, if he be so minded, to make his sanitation complete and (0 finish, on his own premises and to his own profit that ‘cir culation of organic matter’ which is the law of nature and the only true basis upon which the sefence of sanitation can possibly stand firm, The householder can do piecemeal what no public authority has ever succeeded in doing wholesale, albeit that miliions of £’s have been wasted in silly atterapts.’ ASH IN eyrier ADUvSTASLE parece SNVEAT-DRAIN Pibw DIVIDER -200R, ALER DRAINAGE nd 37. 2 COMPOST PRIVY COMPOST PRAVY CONSTRUCTION DETAILS vasa omnes Ferran Jergine Ee pause wasuiseH Pas eee Be ae aha Eemreere RODS SECTION COMPOST CHAMBER rics ie H 3% ncxaa, wed See oem Fa TOWET = WASHING SRUNK-BATHING ” Fe SUN BEdt us a” SOLAR hore vaasa|l Saree ip O55 ze" veur- onal SAUNATIBATHG DETAIL Pir BoakDs. 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